Separated
by MilotheOperator
Summary: After screwing up the timeline, a team of explorers are separated by an explosion from the other end of their portal, being scattered across Pyrrhia. Soon after, a ruthless military organization known as the USCM invades and begins to capture dragons, a mysterious neurological plague following them. Oh yeah, and then there's the time-travelling hybrid haunting Sidewinder's dreams.
1. Reunions

**Milo**

Milo was woken by someone shaking his shoulder.

"What." He mumbled, his eyes still closed in a desperate attempt to go back to sleep.

His muscles ached a bit too much, which was not fun to wake up to.

"There's someone here. And it's definitely not Caracara." a worried voice replied.

_Tradewind, why did you have to wake me up?_

He yawned, stretching out his back, then stood up blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

"Yeah?" He yawned.

Tradewind looked at him with a certain level of terror in her eyes. "There's someone here."

Milo tilted his head quizzically. "And that's not normal…?"

She nodded grimly.

He shrugged. "Just don't answer then."

She shook her head. "That's the thing. When I asked from behind the door-"

"Oh, so you already answered." He cut in crossly.

"Shush. When I asked what they were looking for, they described you perfectly." She finished.

Milo stiffened. _Uh-oh._

"Did you see who they were?"

She shook her head. "Not without being spotted, no. All I know is they were male and female from their voices.

He shook out his wings, then stared at the door. Coincidentally, a knocking sound came through the door, one Tradewind had apparently heard before, because in that instance she flinched.

_For all I know, I could be anyone. Crusoe and Terri, Kite and Sidewinder, some random SkyWing guards looking for me because I escaped…_

Milo stared Tradewind in the eyes. "Okay," he said calmly, reaching for the door. "Before I open the door, I need you to hide yourself. If they're here to take me, at least you'll be okay."

She nodded, then hesitated. "Thank you." she whispered.

"No problem."

She bounded out of the room, hiding behind a curtain.

_Not the best choice, but eh, good enough._

He touched the door, shivering involuntarily.

_Oh dear._

Milo pushed open the door, flinching involuntarily before he was tackled in a hug.

"You're okay!" The voice on top of him exclaimed gleefully.

"Sidewinder?" He asked, shielding his eyes from the light flooding in the open door, trying to see.

Sidewinder hugged him closer. "Yes! Now we're all together again."

Milo nodded, giving him an apologetic look. "Sorry about not coming back, I kinda almost got blown up."

"Well good, an excuse, that's a start." Kite mused, leaning against the doorway. "Where you been?"

"Eeeehh, with some friends. I kinda think they're either dead now or in some form of trouble." he said simply.

Her eyes narrowed. "How?"

"Some stuff exploded. Mainly my only way out of here. They apparently didn't think I was still alive either. Which raises a question, why were you guys looking for me?"

Kite lashed her tail. "Because we were bored, and because we needed to leave the place we were camped at within a seven-mile radius, just on the event of our SandWing having a bad dream." She replied without a certain level of amusement.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked, unsuccessfully trying to wriggle out from under Sidewinder, who put all his weight on him to keep him down purposefully, in which the SandWing couldn't help but laugh during the process.

"It means we're in big trouble. I'll tell you in a bit. And um, wasn't there another dragon in here? The one that answered the door and didn't let us in?" Kite asked, scanning the room fiercely when she finished speaking.

"Uhm, I don't er, um, I mean, huh?" Milo stammered.

Kite scowled at him. "Who is it you're hiding?" She asked accusingly.

Milo frowned. "Stop that."

"Stop what?"

"Reading my expressions. That's creepy." he said.

"Yeah, it kind of is." Sidewinder agreed, glancing back at her.

"It is _not_." She huffed.

"Uh-huh."

"You're avoiding the question! Who is it?" She growled angrily.

Milo gulped. "Okay. I'll show you, just.. Don't freak out."

Kite's scowl deepened. "Too late for that pal."

"Whatever. Hey, Tradewind, it's okay to come out." He called.

Milo heard her talons clicking against the wood as she left her hiding place behind the curtains in the other room.

Kite gasped. "She's a _hybrid._"

Sidewinder climbed off of Milo, allowing him to get up.

Tradewind looked utterly terrified, her body shivering as her tail flicked in random directions anxiously.

"Tradewind. It's okay. These dragons are my friends."

_At least, I think._

She nodded slowly, a small whimper escaping from her throat.

"Milo, do you know what she is?" Kite asked dangerously, staring at him with a look of concern.

Milo shook his head. "I think she's cool."

"She's a hybrid. Hybrids are usually frowned upon by most dragons, because most tribes think the mixing of dragon blood is as close to a blasphemy as you can get. They consider it, oh, how can I put this…" She trailed off.  
Sidewinder spoke up. "Um, 'dirty'?" he suggested.  
"Yes, 'dirty' works. There are some dragons who will kill them on sight, and most dragons who see that do nothing about it." She said with no lack of bitterness.

Tradewind's eyes widened. "W-what?" She stammered fearfully. "Why?"

Kite shrugged. "Like I said, most think you're bad news."

"That's terrible." Milo said quietly.

_It could also serve as a problem._

Milo turned to Tradewind. "Don't worry. You'll be fine. What do you want to do?"

She shuddered, bowing her head and shaking out her multicolored wings. "What do you think? I'm coming with you. Caracara's obviously-"

Her voice cracked.

"-dead, or worse, captured. And if your friends found this place that easily, it's only a matter of time before someone who wants me dead does the same."

Milo nodded, turning to Sidewinder and Kite, who both bore skeptical expressions.

_They think she might be more trouble than she's worth._

"Okay. Good. Kite, I'm stupid, so do you got a plan?" he asked with a smirk.

She blinked at him suspiciously, then cleared her throat.

"Well-" She began.

"As Sidewinder and I know, well, Tradewind, do you know there's a war going on?" she asked, eyeing Trade.

She shook her head slowly. "Nooope."

"Huh. Well, anyways, Sidewinder and I know that, only two tribes decided to stay out of the war, one because they didn't have a reason to join, and the other because they're known to be lazy."

She said in a commanding tone, shooting everyone an occasional glance to check if they were listening.

"NightWings and RainWings, right." Sidewinder added.

Kite smiled. "Right. And so far, we only know where one of these tribes lives, and they're the most likely to let us stay there anyways."

Sidewinder grinned excitedly. "We're going to the-"

"Rainforest, yes. We can wait out this war there, until we can go almost anywhere in Pyrrhia." She finished.

Tradewind looked a bit calmer, not as anxious as before. "That sounds like a good idea. I haven't really, well, er, _been_ anywhere, so this'll be nice."

Milo nodded. "It'll be fun! Like a road trip, except there's no roads here, and we can't play board games."


	2. Eric Selene Jenkins

**Eric**

_**Located on a cliff overlooking the Gateway's remnants.**_

Eric wasn't having the best of luck, with his radio, with his ongoing search for his, as far as he knew, utterly terrified little brother, and lastly, his self esteem.

"Command, come in. This is Recovery One." He said once again into the handheld radio.

_Come on, answer damnit._

He shook the radio in frustration, then garbled static came in.

"Ye….we….you...nkins."

_I'll just assume that was 'we read you Officer Jenkins'_

"My mission objective has been compromised. The feds got to it first, and I'll need a dropship back." He said.

The static faded away, allowing steady audio to flow through. "Negative, Recovery. Enhanced scans indicate a second unused entryway on another part of the planet. But in order to use it correctly we need you to scavenge the M.R.G. chip from what remains of the console."

Eric blinked in surprise. "A second portal?"

"Affirmative. We're sending you a group of reinforcement within the-"

Eric cut the radio operator off. 'Woah woah woah, I didn't ask for reinforcements. I can do this alone." he insisted.

The radio crackled. "That's a negative, Recovery. They're already waiting at the other access point. So get that chip, and don't keep them waiting. We're sending your own PDA the coordinates. Over and out."

Eric stared at the radio incredulously. "Son of a…"

_Damn Grand Republic of Epsilon Expanse. _

He slid the radio into the front pocket of his backpack, yanking the zipper up quickly.

Groaning in frusteration at command's choice, he began the long hike back down the valley.

A light sprinkle of rain began to fall, the mist allowing him to slip through the camp of the remaining U.S.C.M. militants.

_Ryder and his buddies sure tore up the place. I gotta find that chip. Just got to hope they didn't do a sweep for leftover artifacts._

Which he figured would be bad for two reasons:

A, They found the chip and resumed studying it in a very secure facility,

Or B, They found the chip AND additional relics like Sparkwire's.

(There hadn't been any recorded reports of Crusoe's gauntlets at the time, but Crusoe indeed HAD them.)

He didn't want nor need the trouble of elite soldiers carrying around weapons of extreme power.

_Just make things a bit harder than they already are, and right now this is pretty damn close to impossible._

He rolled behind a demolished jeep, avoiding a soldier in powered armor's flood lights shining off his helm.

_I'm not using my armor here, not while I don't have time to put it on._

His footsteps were barely audible when he slipped by two soldiers guarding a helicopter, and jogging silently up the stone stairs, which were cracked and filled with craters.

Eric froze.

There was a soldier guarding the remains of the portal, much to Eric mentally adding 'having soldiers in convenient places' on his mental list of how he has bad luck.

The soldier was facing away, looking off at the bushes behind the shattered arch.

Eric quietly gripped his sword handle, leaning forward to help himself drag the blade out quietly.

The blade tipped forward suddenly, a high-pitched sliding noise occurring.

The soldier spun around, only to get the sword impaled through his helmet, a hissing noise emanating from the cracked visor. Eric shoved the soldier's body away, pulling his blade out simultaneously.

_A bit too late._

He thought, the grim humor satisfying him for a short while.

Eric made his way over to the partially melted console, examining it. He picked up a stray wire, then traced his fingers along it, following it to a panel on the back of the console.

He shrugged his shoulders, then pried open the panel, revealing perfectly preserved wires along with a glowing PDA.

_Gotcha._

Eric tugged out the PDA, unplugging the semi-thick cord from the small port in the bottom and then sticking the small handheld computer into his pocket.

_Got it. Now to rendezvous with whoever's at that second portal._

He leapt off the platform soon after he'd hidden the body in the bushes the soldier had been so focused on, never seen again as he was swallowed by the closing mist.


	3. Stealth

**Zazilie**

(Sidenote, I was listening to a Remix of the song 'Rasputin' while doing this. Help.)

_Gah, what?_

Zazilie sat up, confused.

Mainly as to:

A: Where the heck she was, and

B: Why was she suddenly alone, and most importantly,

C, Why in the hell did she feel like hitting someone?

She flexed her claws in the grass thoughtlessly, then her eyes widened in surprise at the sudden revelation.

_Goddamnit, I'm a dragon again._

Upon extending her wings curiously, she found unfamiliar star-like markings under her wings, glinting painfully back at her.

_Huh. Strange._

She stood up on her hind legs, examining her claws, then tracing them along her ebony snout.

_Guess I should not make much of it._

Upon surveying her surroundings, she could see she'd awaken in a crater of sand, with a small grove of trees encompassing her, just as well as she could hear the faint echoes of waves crashing against sand.

_Somewhere near a body of water._

Zazilie shook out her wings, shaking stray granules of sand off everywhere.

"Might be someone nearby. Should check just in case." She murmured aloud.

_With luck,_ _of course._

Her earlier exhaustion having been abolished, she leapt out of the crater and headed for the sound of the ocean.

_No one. No surprise there._

She thought, cursing her luck upon finding an white sandy beach, devoid of life or anyone she recognized.

Her tail lashed in minor frustration, hitting a small dune of sand and scattering the tiny fractions of sediment into the air.

_Well, what now?_

Zazilie pondered her own question for a moment, her sharpened eyes spotting a shadow suddenly shifting through the distant waves towards her.

…

She stepped backward a few steps.

The shadow drifted closer, almost within one-hundred yards of her. More shadows, similar in shape, appeared behind it, all in formation behind the first shadow.

Acting instinctively, she bounded toward the trees, away from the shadows.

She didn't know who or what they were, but she didn't want to hang around to face them directly.

_Better wait and see. Could be hostile._

She spun around and shot a final glance at the possible approaching danger.

The shadows were within fifteen feet of shore, and heading in fast.

_Okay, so obviously not sealife acting strangely._

She dove behind the shaded foliage just as a green head broke the water, followed by four others of the blue and the same color.

_Dragons,_ She thought, holding back a startled cough.

The one in front, with green scales, strode confidently out of the waves, his head high and shoulders back as he scanned the beach, looking for..._something_, she didn't know yet.

He snapped his head back at a smaller blue female behind him. "Wave, please explain why we were sent out here again? There's nothing here!" He growled.

Wave, the female, cleared her throat. "Sir, with all due respect, there was multiple reports from countless loyal SeaWings of a strange streak of light in the sky, followed by what appeared to be an explosion. I _highly_ doubt sir, that so many dragons would conspire to support such a false tip. This could be a warning, possibly a revelation of what the other factions have in store for us. If that's true, we'll need to-" The leader cut her off. "Yes, whatever, I get it. You like looking at..._stuff._ Let's just investigate whatever the heck this is, and leave. I don't want to miss chess with Goblin." Zazilie noticed that most of the other dragons bore expressions of agreement.

Wave bowed her head, obviously biting back a sharp insult to her lazy superior.

"Yes sir." she grumbled.

Zazilie crept back further into the fronds of the palm bush, avoiding the crew of..._SeaWings,_ whatever the heck they were, she didn't care. They had began walking unknowingly in her direction, and tremors of awareness were circulating throughout her body.

"Captain!" Wave called. Zazilie froze.

The green dragon groaned. "What now?!"

Wave waved her talons at something in the sand. "See for yourself."

The captain grumbled, then walked back to Wave. "Talonprints. Yes, what about them?"

"They're none of our squadron, or of any SeaWing. No webbing through the center, and they're recent. Someone saw us coming."

"Fuck." Zazilie cursed silently.

The captain studied the prints while scratching his chin. "Mhm. Yes. Good job, Wave." He turned to the surrounding three dragons. "Spread out. Clean the area and search for any hostiles and take them in for questioning, if resistance isn't met."

Two of the dragons nodded, as Wave and another dragon made for Zazilie's position, as Wave was following the evidence Zazilie's hurried escape.

_That's not good._ Zazilie backed into a tree, spinning around and hurriedly making her way through the bushes, a bit too-

"I hear them! This way!" Wave crowed.

-noisily.

Zazilie threw stealth to the wind, sprinting away from the ocean and the sound of the SeaWings searching for her.

The sounds of the bushes and tall grasses waving behind her told her she needed to go faster, so she obliged, ignoring her muscle's screams of protest.

_Need to either lose them or…_  
She leapt onto a low hanging thicket, hiding under the gigantic palm leaves.

Wave and the other SeaWings arrived, stopping under her hiding place.

Their captain strode in behind them from the brush. "Well?"

Wave looked up from the ground, where she was searching for more prints, Zazilie assumed.

_Good luck._ She thought triumphantly.

"We lost the trail, but they can't have gone far. We'll keep looking. Should be close by."

_Closer than you think._

With that, Wave and the other three SeaWings left, leaving just the captain and Zazilie, who was getting real tired of holding her breath.

"Huh." The captain muttered, looking straight at Zazilie, causing her to tremble in shock. He then chuckled to himself and walked away.

_What, was that?_ She thought, letting out her breath.

She cautiously leapt out of the tree on to the cold sand.

"Well that was certainly interesting." She mused.

Zazilie turned around to face a quivering dragon, their face coated with shock.

_Ah, shit._

"C-Ca-Capta-" The terrified dragon was cut short as Zazilie hit him firmly in the gut, knocking the wind out of him.

She wrapped her talons firmly around his snout, growling at him to shut up.

She sat there for a moment staring at this terrified dragon, meanwhile listening for any approaching dragons.

"Alright," She sighed. "Scream for help, I'll snap your neck. Try anything stupid, you'll never breathe again. Got it?" She snapped.

The blue dragon nodded slowly.

"Alright. Why are you chasing me?" She asked, letting go of his snout.

He whimpered in fear, then began speaking slowly. "W-we were assuming to catch a spy, l-like usual...are you a spy?"

Zazilie slapped him. He almost cried out, but stopped suddenly, as he remembered Zazilie's earlier threat.

"I'm asking the questions here. And no. I have no clue where I am."

The SeaWing nodded, rubbing his face sorely without hiding his slight confusion.

"Which leads to the next question," She continued quietly. "Where am I?"

"Uh-h, the K-kingdom of the Sea…" He trailed off, obviously confused.

"Huh." She answered, not taking this as important. She figured she couldn't get much information from this dragon anyway.

"Thank you for your time." She said, backing off. "Now sleep."

"Wha-" Zazilie slammed his head into a nearby rock, instantly knocking him unconscious.

_Good. Should keep him from telling the rest of his squad the direction I left in._

She made sure the timid blue dragon was still breathing, then left as quietly as she'd came.

Which still wasn't very quiet.


End file.
